The present invention relates to an improvement in an electronic calculator with a program calculation function and, more particularly, to an electronic calculator in which numeral data can be easily substituted for variables in a program.
An electronic calculator with a program calculation function is known. Such a calculator is disclosed in, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,037,092 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,099,246. Such an electronic calculator is also called a programmable electronic calculator. This type of electronic calculator performs a calculation in accordance with a program in the following manner. A calculation program is stored in the electronic calculator. When numeral data of the variable data is input into the calculator, the calculator executes a predetermined calculation in accordance with the program.
The programmable calculator generally comprises a variable memory. The variable memory has a plurality of memory areas corresponding to variables in order to store numeral data which are substituted therefor. The calculator stores numeral data of the respective variables and executes calculations designated by the program in accordance with the stored data. In order to allow numeral data to be stored in the variable memory, a memory key such as "Min", "M+", "M-" is generally used. In an electronic calculator which can use a BASIC language, numeral data is substituted for a variable. For example, numeral data is substituted for a variable by using an equation such as A=0, B=3.
When the programmable calculator of the type described above is used, the same numeral data must sometimes be substituted for a plurality of variables. In other words, the same data must be stored in different memory areas of the variable memory. In this case, the memory key must be operated several times corresponding to the number of variables to be substituted. In an electronic calculator which can use a BASIC language, the number of equations must be equal to the number of variables for which data is to be substituted. For example, when the numeral "10" is substituted for variables A to Z, the memory key must be operated twenty-six times. In the calculator which can use the BASIC language, 26 equations are required.
In this manner, in the above-mentioned programmable electronic calculator, when the number of variables for which numeral data is to be substituted is increased, an operation for substituting numeral data is cumbersome, resulting in frequent erroneous operations.